1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to law enforcement equipment, and more particularly to non-lethal devices employed by police agencies on a roadway during pursuit to safely and almost instantly stop a fleeing vehicle.
More specifically, the present invention relates to deployable modular frame units of hollow spikes which may be quickly and easily snapped together to form any desired length of a continuous strip across a roadway, wherein said spikes are maintained in a normal down position to allow passage of vehicles until such time as said spikes are remotely activated electromechanically into an up position to selectively stop a fleeing vehicle by puncturing its tires.
Once the fleeing vehicle crosses over the strip, the spikes may be electromechanically returned to their down position to allow pursuing police cars to safely cross over the strip and apprehend the disabled fleeing vehicle.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
As it is perhaps well known, there have recently been several notorious chases of fleeing vehicles whose drivers refuse to stop or try to outrun the police. Some of the most famous chases involved armed and dangerous criminals who had virtually nothing to lose by using their vehicle to crash through classic police roadblocks which often resulted in bodily injury and great property damage.
As it may also be perhaps well known, the classic police roadblock by which police cars are parked across a roadway results in blockage of all vehicular traffic and thereby often causes congestion of citizen drivers at the roadblock who must either be allowed to pass by movement of police cars or risk physical harm in any subsequent confrontation between the police and driver of a fleeing vehicle.
In other words, classic police roadblocks are non-selective, cause congestion and often result in more injury than they are worth.
Accordingly, the prior art reveals attempts to replace classic police roadblocks with a selective and safe means for stopping a fleeing vehicle by puncturing its tires. A preferred device in use today is known as a spike strip and there are several variations, but none have the advantages of the present invention.
One of the earlier known spike strips simply consisted of a narrow length of flat rubber or fabric base containing a multitude of nails oriented in the same direction so that the strip could be coiled for storage in a trunk of a police car, but upon approach of a fleeing vehicle the coil could be rolled across a roadway in the path of the vehicle whereby the nails would puncture the tires.
However, in practice it soon became apparent that a coil of nails had several inherent problems.
First, the nails often snagged upon each other as the coil was unwound and often ensnaring itself or other items.
Secondly, someone had to physically place the outstretched strip with nails upright in the path of an oncoming vehicle which was usually driven a very high speed thereby allowing a few seconds to complete the task.
Thirdly, this type of coiled spike strip was non-selective in that any innocent vehicle ahead of a fleeing vehicle on the same roadway would obviously contact the nails and thereby most often result in the entire strip being adhered to the tires and dislodged from the roadway.
And, forth, even when initial contact was made between the strip and fleeing vehicle, it was often seen that solid nails alone did not deflate tires rapidly enough and the vehicle would continue for several more miles before being disabled.
Although some variations of improved coiled spike strips are found in current use in many countries today, their flexible coils have been generally replaced by rigid foundational base sections hinged together and capable of being folded for storage, such as the "Portable Road Blocker" manufactured by MITI Company of Grand Junction, Colo. Moreover their solid nails of bygone years have presently been replaced by hollow spikes, some of which also contain a longitudinal slit for the purpose of rapidly deflating a tire upon impact.
But in any event, all of the known spike strips in current use have many of the same problems previously discussed because of their non-selectivity and requirement for timely deployment and removal upon a roadway.
Accordingly, it is one general object of the present invention to provide a spike strip of interlocking modular frame units which can be easily and rapidly snapped together in a variety of lengths for placement across the surface of a roadway.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a spike strip of slitted hollow spikes in a down position within said modular frame units which but when assembled may be remotely activated electromechanically to their up positions to target and puncture the tires of a specific fleeing vehicle.
It is yet one further object of the present invention to provide a spike strip of modular frame units having a virtually low vertical silhouette or height for both purposes of concealment and more importantly to allow safe passage of vehicles over it.
It is still another further object of the present invention to provide a spike strip which may be electronically and remotely activated by merely plugging its circuitry into the cigarette lighter connection of a police car where it may be activated by an operator by simply activating or deactivating a switch.
It is still yet one further object of the present invention to provide a spike strip with a red signal light thereon to apprise an operator when the spikes are in an upright position.
These objects, among others, are achieved in the present invention.